Sunburst (Starbright Series)

by Rachel Higginson

  And then I walked out. I left my entire tray at my spot. Tristan would deal with it and I was too worked up to even spend one extra minute in that cafeteria. I walked straight to my locker and dug deep in my bag for my cellphone.

  Can I meet up with you tonight? I need to kill something. I texted to Serena. And then I stared at my screen until she texted back.

  Yes, please. We have a lead. Be ready by nine. I’ll call Jupiter with details.

  Thanks.

  I was actually impressed at her texting skills. Serena had adapted well to human life, even while I knew she itched to get back up in the sky. I had been bred for a purpose and one of the reasons was so that the rest of the Star community didn’t have to deal with the claustrophobic prison of Earth.

  I slipped my phone back into my bag and pulled out my books for my next class. Piper yanked open her locker next to me sounding extra loud in the quiet hallway.

  I peeked at her from around my opened locker door and found a miserable expression on her face.

  “I know I’m crazy sometimes,” she grumbled. “You don’t have to tell me.”

  “I wasn’t going to,” I said sincerely. “You alright?”

  “No,” she admitted. She slammed her locker closed and let her forehead fall forward on it. “I’m worried about you.” She tilted her face to mine and I met her concerned eyes with steady ones of my own.

  She had reason to be worried about me; I was surprised by her perceptiveness. She wasn’t usually this…. insightful. I mean, she was, in certain ways. But not about the big, secret stuff in my life.

  Except maybe Tristan. Apparently I should have given her more credit a long time ago.

  “Why are you worried about me?” I asked carefully, already afraid of her answer.

  “You would tell me if something was going on, wouldn’t you?” she demanded. “Like if you’d started using drugs or got pregnant or something. I mean, I’m your best friend. I should be the first to know. Plus, I’m the least likely to judge, so-“

  “Piper! I’m not pregnant. Good lord.”

  “Drugs?”

  “No drugs. Geez.” I shook my head at her.

  “Something’s going on,” she pointed out gently. “You don’t want to talk to me about it, and I don’t know why.”

  “I don’t either,” I admitted. And it was true. I had never wanted to open up to Piper more than this moment. I used to be able to talk about this stuff to Tristan, but that was before we were suddenly more than friends and back when things were a lot less complicated. My problems revolved around accidently lighting up like a light bulb in math class when I didn’t know the answer, or running too fast at practice. He would lend me a listening ear and soothe my ego by telling me I was the hottest alien he’d ever seen. Now those small, conceited problems had morphed into the boy I was in love with sometimes wanting to kill me, sometimes making me feel things I’d never felt before. And in those moments, Seth made me feel things I never knew were possible. An entire faction of bad guys were out to kill me or torture me and the most annoying creature on the planet- Jude- existed as my constant shadow, doing his best to ruin my reputation at school. There was a lot to talk about with Piper, and I needed my best friend to unload on. “But I want to.”

  “Then talk to me, Stella. I hate watching your life unravel from the sidelines. I at least want to attempt to help you tape it back together.”

  I looked into her sad hazel eyes and felt my chin quiver. “Piper, I wish I could.”

  “By not telling me, you’re pushing me away,” she pointed out. Her expression grew harder and I winced at her words. “You’re keeping me out and it hurts, Stella. You probably aren’t trying to hurt me, but you are.”

  “Piper, if I could talk to you about this, I would.”

  “But you can’t.” It was a statement, not a question but I still shook my head. “But you can talk to Tristan?”

  She was accusing me of the one terrible thing I’d done to her. I had opened up to Tristan and not her. I had betrayed her for the person she truly hated.

  “No,” I said and it wasn’t exactly a lie. “I can’t talk to him either.”

  “Well, he seems to know a lot more than I do.”

  I lifted my right shoulder and buried my chin into the unyielding bone. I couldn’t look her in the eye. I couldn’t explain to her how much he knew about my life that she didn’t. It made me feel nauseous and overwhelmingly tired.

  She stared at me for a few moments but if felt like forever. She wasn’t just assessing my appearance, she was looking into me, looking for something that would mollify her self-esteem. I didn’t know what she saw in my expression, but I felt miserable. I felt like I was betraying her along with everyone else in my life. I tried my hardest to convey apology in my expression without actually saying it.

  I had no idea if she bought it or not, but she eventually offered me a truce. “I’m not going to be mad at you anymore,” she sniffed.

  “That’s very generous of you,” I smiled at her.

  “I know.”

  “I love you, Pi.”

  “I love you too, you crazy girl.” She stepped forward and pulled me into a tight hug. My face got momentarily caught in her long dark hair and huge hoop earrings, but I pushed through until I caught air again. “I probably won’t stop worrying though, so if you need me…. for anything, I’m here for you, alright?”

  “I know you are. And that goes both ways. If you need me for something, anything, I’m here for you.”

  “Good,” she laughed.

  The bell rang and we were no longer alone in the hallway. We pulled apart and headed off for class. Jude caught up to us on the way, smelling like cigarette smoke and mint.

  He was so wrong about that smell. I did not like it. In fact, it mildly repulsed me.

  He smirked at me and asked, “Did I hear that you’re going to prom with the quarterback? Please tell me that’s a rumor. Please tell me you have better taste than that.”

  “It’s not even football season,” I pointed out, ignoring all his other words.

  “Are you telling me he’s not the quarterback?” he challenged.

  Well, he had me there.

  Piper leaned forward so she could eye him on the other side of me and then declared, “It actually pains me to say this, but I think I’m officially Team Tristan.”

  Jude scoffed, “You mean you’re over me?” His hands flew to his chest like he was mortally wounded. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I’m deadly serious. You’re trouble.”

  “Just the other day you called me an angel!” He was only pretending to be serious; I noticed the amusement dancing in his dark eyes. But Piper was absolutely eating it up.

  “I was blinded by your gifts.” She was adamant and I wanted to kiss her. Finally someone was getting my issue with Jude.

  “But we bonded,” Jude insisted. “I even gave you my coffee. Do you know how hard that was for me? I was practically on the verge of murdering someone innocent the whole day.”

  Now, that I actually believed.

  “Sorry,” Piper shrugged. “I have to do what’s best for my best friend.”

  “At least that we agree on.” Jude said quietly.

  My head snapped around to ask him what he meant, but he slipped passed me and entered our classroom before anything came out of my mouth.

  Was he honestly standing up for me? Or was that a dig on Piper? Did he just think Piper should be doing better at her best friendship?

  I doubted it was either. In fact it felt very much like I had misheard him. He must have said something else that I didn’t catch, so I subconsciously filled in the blanks and made up my own explanation.

  That sounded so much easier than facing the truth.

  I slid into my sixth hour desk and refused to acknowledge anyone around me except Piper. It just seemed safer that way, less life-threatening.

  At least for now.

  But I seriously needed to deal with th
e whole Jude fiasco.

  And fast.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “It’s really dark in here,” I commented slowly. Nate shot me a look over his shoulder that said, “Duh.”

  I shrugged and he smiled. “Stella, it’s nighttime. It’s always dark during the night.”

  “I know,” I shot back. “But I mean, it’s really, really dark…. even for nighttime.”

  And it was. The Stars were hidden behind thick cloud cover and the moon was completely out of sight. Those factors alone made the night feel extra oppressive. But on top of that, we were wandering through some New England forest and the thick canopy of trees, spaced so impossibly close together, made the darkness feel like it wrapped around our bodies and swallowed us whole, like a man-eating anaconda.

  Our Lights were as dim as possible, just a faint haze shimmering around our three bodies. We were like Tasers set to stun, strong enough to do some damage but nothing permanent. Jupiter had decided to join us as well, but he had no light and I could just barely make him out through the lack of light, even with my super sensitive sight.

  “Where did this lead come from?” I whispered, even though it was unnecessary. If we were glowing, people would be able to see us; it wouldn’t matter if we were quiet or not. Which was good, because I was stomping my way through this forest, snapping every branch underfoot. But I couldn’t see them and flying was impossible with the trees placed so close together.

  “The Council,” Serena answered in a low voice. “They sent a message earlier today.”

  I still didn’t get how communication with the Council worked. It wasn’t like they could call on a cell phone. They were light years away. But I knew it happened, just not often. Usually all communication was done face to face. You were summoned, you flew away, you talked, you flew back. Or that’s how it had always worked with my parents.

  “And you trust them?” I asked carefully.

  Jupiter snorted somewhere ahead of me but Serena said, “It doesn’t matter if I do or don’t. I’m exploring this lead whether it’s a trap or the truth.”

  She had a good point. I drew out my swords. I felt like the trees were moving around me, waving in the air, like ocean waves against the shore. It was impossible to tell since everything was so dark, and the atmosphere around me all blended into one obscure, black canvas. But I could swear everything around me was rippling. I felt like I was in a bizarre dream or walking through a portal.

  Nobody else seemed to notice though, or they weren’t worried about it if they did.

  I was also nervous because if Seven was around she would be able to neutralize our internal alarms, that sounded whenever evil was nearby. I had filled everyone in earlier on the new developments in my life- Seven was not just dangerous and unstable but a weapon as well, Aliah was concerned about Seth and Seth was the only one in the contract currently capable of killing me…. so unless I tripped and accidentally cut off my own head, he was my biggest threat right now.

  And I loved him.

  This wasn’t complicated at all.

  Or scary. This wasn’t scary.

  Except I was so tightly wound that I felt sick to my stomach and my hands were trembling where they grasped the two hilts of my katanas. My wrists were anything but loose and my breaths shook and quivered as I forced them in and out of my lungs. I was such a chicken about this stuff; it sucked, since it was basically my entire life.

  Something glided alongside my foot and I yelped a pathetic sound.

  “What’s wrong?” Nate jumped around with sword raised.

  “There’s something on the ground.” I poked the soft forest floor with the tip of my sword but only met mud and leaves.

  “Stella.” I could tell Jupiter was barely reigning in his patience. “There are Shadows literally all around you. Please don’t tell me you’re just now noticing them.”

  “Obviously, I’m not just noticing them.” I was totally just now noticing them. Damn it, I was the worst Star ever. “I just didn’t realize they were on the ground too. I thought it might be something…. different.”

  Serena chuckled darkly. “As in a wayward field mouse.”

  I ignored her and let my eyes reflect against the dark night around me. The moon broke through the heavy cloud cover up above; some of the light filtered in between the trees so I could finally adjust to my surroundings. When everything became clear I could see them now. They covered every available space as we trudged through the forest. They blanketed tree branches, glided over their trunks and whipped back and forth across the ground.

  There were so many of them that I instantly felt threatened. They didn’t exactly have eyes, but they seemed to be watching us with wagging tales. And if they had any kind of expression hidden in the dark mass, they would have looked hungry- starving. I imagined them licking their lips and purring with anticipation.

  “Why aren’t they attacking us?” I stage-whispered, almost afraid to give them the idea. As if they wouldn’t come up with it on their own.

  “No clue,” Nate shrugged. “But I’m going to assume it’s because something worse is waiting for us.”

  “Oh, geez,” I sighed.

  Nate grinned and Jupiter sighed.

  A Shadow came to a stop directly in my path and twitched its tail back and forth. I tried to step over it, but it slithered around and stopped again, this time facing me. I wasn’t exactly sure what it wanted, maybe for me to rub its belly?

  I moved to the side, bumping into Jupiter in my attempt to change paths, but the Shadow followed me. “This thing is begging me to kill it.”

  “Don’t,” Jupiter ordered. “A Shadow that anxious to go back to hell is hiding something.”

  “Good to know, I muttered and subtly retracted my sword. I had been just about to gut him. Instead I stepped over him again. He was persistent, but I somehow kept up with Serena and Nate while avoiding getting Shadow goo on my feet.

  The further into the forest we walked, the darker it became until our Lights were bright, blinding and hot. This kept the Shadows away from us for the most part, but they seemed to be growing thicker as we continued as well. Beyond where our Lights reached there were walls of them, they stacked on top of each other, tangled in columns or along tree trunks.

  And they weren’t just everywhere. They smelled terrible, too.

  I hadn’t noticed at first, but now the smell was impossible to ignore. The scent of rotting eggs and something so foul and diseased it could only have originated in Hell itself, hung in the air. I felt it on my skin, I tasted it on my tongue.

  I would need to take at least fifty showers after all this and we hadn’t even shed any blood yet.

  We pushed through the Shadow-made barrier and stumbled into a remote cabin.

  The lights were off inside and it looked utterly deserted.

  However, there was no way I was getting out of this that easily. This was the perfect precursor to the world’s scariest movie, and because I was living it, I knew without any doubt that this moment was only the beginning of a very long, very bloody night.

  So, was this a trap or a true tip?

  That was the question.

  “That looks rather ominous,” Nate drawled.

  No kidding.

  Serena looked back at the forest behind us and visibly swallowed. Stealing a breath for courage I turned around to see what made even Serena cringe. And when I finally understood, I let out a weary sigh.

  The Shadows followed us. Thousands of them created a black, solid wall of no escape. We had been herded here, rounded up and delivered for execution. We could have seen this coming. Ok, we probably knew this was coming and chose to ignore it in favor of retaining at least some of our fighting spirit.

  Or that was my excuse anyway.

  They had a purpose. And we had a purpose. Everything seemed to be falling into place. There was only one thing left to do.

  And that was explore the cabin.

  “Is everyone else thinking what I’m thin
king?” I asked lightly.

  “And what is that?” Nate asked carefully.

  “That the cabin is secretly a church, blessed by a priest and a perfect place for refuge?”

  Jupiter choked on what sounded like laughter.

  I made Jupiter laugh- I could officially die tonight and be happy.

  “No more stalling,” Serena announced calmly. “Let’s explore.” She pulled a second sword from her waist and tossed the hilt until it fit exactly in her tight grip. On Earth, the closest style of sword she used was called a scimitar. Longer than mine and more pointed, it wielded a wide, powerful arch. Where my katanas had a square but angled edge, her blades were strictly pointed. The saber curved in a long, subtle way. The bend was important- it made catching the neck of a Fallen just a bit easier. Her hilts were made out of pure, heavy gold, forged in Heaven itself.

  In other words, her weapons were bad ass.

  One day I would get my very own Heaven-commissioned swords and then I would also be bad ass. Until then, I would use my hand-me-down katanas that Jupiter pulled out of his bag of tricks and kick ass the old-fashioned way.

  The cabin appeared exactly like a haunted cabin in the woods should look like. Actually, this one could easily be where the whole Hansel and Gretel myth came from.

  The pure log building’s old wood wasn’t golden blonde anymore; these logs had become dark and wet with heavy moss growing on every beam. A short staircase led to the main door and the stairs looked completely rotted and sagging. Evenly-spaced windows surrounded the cabin on every wall, but most of the glass was broken. Frayed sheer curtains were snagged in the jagged edges as they tried to float with the whipping wind, that was sucking them into the outside.

  The mossy roof was completely overgrown with ivy that I suspected had pushed its way into the house, by the look of the dilapidated shingles. And beyond the cabin lay more forest. I half wondered why we didn’t simply fly to this spot when we first stumbled upon it, but now I could see that would have been impossible. The forest created a second roof over the structure and boxed the cabin in from every side. We stood in the only small clearing right now.